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RELIGION:
ONLINE WORSHIP
Your
Very Own Puja Room
Orders
from Indians within India form a small percentage. Up to 80 per cent of
them come from abroad-mostly from the US. Saranam-which has 700 temples
in its database-does not survive only on puja orders though. The chief
attraction is the "personalised puja room". Here one can create
one's own puja room by selecting images of preferred deities. One can
also have flowers and perform an aarti as well.
New Age
spirituality buffs, more enthusiastic about esoteric self-help techniques
than visiting temples, needn't despair either. For them there are sites
like saffronsoul.com that deal with holistic healing and co-ordination
of the mind, body and spirit. Kedar Joshi and Pranali, the people behind
Saffronsoul, claim they were inspired by the realisation of the "need
to balance the frenzied lifestyle that one leads". Saffronsoul gets
up to 1.5 lakh hits a week.
In fact,
every other spiritual movement and alternative school of thought has put
up a website for its modern Net-savvy audience. Sample these: anandamarga.org,
ashram.com, atammarg.org, consciousnet.com, jeevanvidya.org, maharishi-india.org,
spiritweb.org, trancenet.org, saibaba.org, samadhicushions.com-the
list is virtually endless.
But apart
from portals where business acumen cashes in on the need for religion
and spirituality on the Net, there is another crucial factor forcing God
online. Take, for instance, the official website of the Catholic Church
in Mumbai-archbom.org. Father Pravin Fernandes, co-ordinator, Catholic
Communication Centre, Archdiocese of Mumbai, who's behind this online
effort, expounds the rationale: "Many Catholics had complained the
church was secretive, didn't act promptly, or give news immediately. One
way of changing that is by encouraging dialogue and providing information
... through the Net."
Following
in a similar vein are Islamic, Jain, Zoroastrian, Sikh and Buddhist sites.
For instance, irf.net, the site of the Mumbai-based Islamic Research
Foundation, a global resource centre on Islam and comparative religion,
offers a programme for training Muslims to effectively convey the message
of Islam.
Technology
has enabled more facilities on irf.net. For example there is a
browser for exploring the Quran in multiple translations, a Qibla direction
locator and a namaz time calculator. Ashraf Abdul-Haq Mohamedy, a volunteer
and a trustee at the Foundation, hopes this Net-induced spiritual awareness
"will lead to universal Brotherhood".
But if you're
beginning to think that everything to do with God and spirituality on
the Net is solemn stuff, think again. Says Vishal Gondal, CEO, and Indiagames:
"When we conceived indiagames.com, our aim was to instill
values and principles along with the entertaining games." So, there's
a game called Mrigaya: The Hunt based on an episode from
the Ramayana. While the animation entertains the player, he also gets
to learn of the fight between good and evil. In fact, Harish Bhimani-Mahabharat's
deep-throated "Samay"-who is involved with all the mythological
games on this site says he's convinced of the positive effect on the young
ones who play it, of the resulting spark of curiosity about Lord Rama
and the principles he stood for. Something that they hope to continue
with their next game-on Lord Krishna.
Well, whether
in serious or playful forms, it does appear that God's "omnipresent"
epithet is ringing true. His new online avatar is here for good.
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